NOTARY

“Doesn't have a signature of the claimant that's notarized with acknowledgement.”

This is a time tested strategy the State implements when a notary public has forgotten to write a piece of inconsequential information on a claim document. Even when it is clear that claimant is the owner, NYS loves to find that “i” not dotted, or that “t” not crossed to force claimants to start all over again and delay payment by 90 to 120 days.

Photo id

“A copy of valid government issued photo ID.”

 This is another request based upon redundancy. The State requires a notarization with multiple points of data containing of personally identifiable information, which the notary is required to verify. But every so often, the State will delay payment of claims looking for a photo ID anyway. No consistency to this request, but it is why we ask for ID up front to avoid this delay.

ITS NOT YOUR $

“The reported information indicates that the property doesn't belong to the owner covered in your submitted Abandoned Property Location Service Provider agreement.”

This will occur for a variety of scenarios, and sometimes its true, but usually, the State has discovered a minor inconsistency, such as the claimant not stating the relationship to the owner in a manner acceptable by the interpretation of the State. Such as stating that you are a child of a deceased parent’s account, when you are a named beneficiary; or not stating that you are an Executor/Administrator, when you are claiming, even though you are a next of kin, or a beneficiary also. This is a fairly sophisticated delay tactic employed by the State.

CUSTODIAL/

estate

“Updated Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration for the Estate of XXXXXXXX authorizing collection of all property(ies) held by this office. The court's seal or ink stamp must be easily identified.”

Generally, the request for a court order is appropriate if the funds belong to a deceased individual, but if the account was custodial for a minor and both the registrants are deceased, even if the custodian post-deceased the minor, the funds are the property of the estate of the minor. And a request for a court order for the custodian is incorrect. These decisions often confuse claimants and cause the claimant to think they are not entitled to the funds, or its too complicated and then abandon the claim in the worst-case scenario; the best-case is you figure it out and resubmit the claim waiting another 90 days to maybe gain approval or continue the appeal.